Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Adult and Presentations - 4

As the child practices on his own, the adult should assure that the psychological environment is prepared in such a way that all mistakes are seen as opportunities.

The child has freedom to make mistakes, learn from them, repeat them as does happen, and try again.

Freedom after the presentations is the key that leads to independence, but the child needs the knowledge that he has freedom and what this freedom means.

The child should be aware that he is free to choose any presented activity, when and where to do it, for how long and as many repetitions as he needs, the freedom to ask for a presentation or even a repeated one, and to have a substitute similar or dissimilar one made available to him if the desired one is not available, either because another child is using it, or because the child is not yet prepared for the work.

The adult is also responsible for observation of the child, the environment, and the child’s interactions with other people as well as the environment.

The adult should fade away in stages during a presentation, based on the child’s needs, sometimes physically staying with the child the entire duration but sitting back as often as possible to allow for independent work on the part of the child.

The adult should observe the child’s reactions and his work during and after a presentation, taking notes after pulling back, recording for future planning of presentations all of the following:

the manner in which the child works (i.e. with concentration, carefully, with interest),

number of repetitions,

the child’s preferences (choose later presentations accordingly),

the child’s mistakes and difficulties (guiding the adult in clarifying further presentations, but not requiring or even needing an immediate re-presentation unless the difficulty is in using the material appropriately), and

what does the child use or not and why.

The adult should come to know the child so well as to anticipate and be prepared for the next step of the child’s work before the child gets there himself.